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Time For a Second Stab!

Bert Ballast — Wed, 20 Mar 2024 16:04:46 +0000

By Modiphius Entertainment

Dark Deeds, the cult favourite card game from Andy Chambers & Mark Gibbons, gets a deadly new edition

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

London, England: 9th February 2024

Publisher of tabletop games, wargames and board games, Modiphius Entertainment Ltd. has announced a licensing deal with Rookery Publications to publish the new edition of Dark Deeds, a darkly humorous card game for 2 to 5 players created by gaming legends Andy Chambers and Mark Gibbons.

Set in a sinister fantasy city, Dark Deeds casts players as malicious minions in service to a powerful, mysterious, and clearly villainous Patron. In the service of this dark power, minions must perform acts of thievery, violence, and betrayal, all while avoiding suspicious authorities, interfering do-gooders, and the machinations of their rivals. Rich rewards await the most successful minion, alongside horrific punishments for those who fail.

Are you the kind of malevolent minion the Patron needs? Team players need not apply.

To bring this new edition of Dark Deeds to life, Modiphius Entertainment Ltd. has partnered with Rookery Publications, a team of industry veterans, including Art Director Mark Gibbons, who is best known for his decades of creative contribution to the likes of Games Workshop, Blizzard Entertainment and Riot Games – and, of course, as one of the creators of Dark Deeds.

Mark Gibbons said: “Andy Chambers, Ryan Miller and myself created the original Dark Deeds over a frenzied six months back in 2015. Indie publisher Games & Gears was good enough to indulge our collective passions and put the devious little game on the shelves for a limited run the following year. We sold every copy, and thanks to the encouraging buzz from a hardcore fanbase, even made a Darker Deeds expansion.

“Despite that cult success, I always felt the game had the potential to be a much bigger hit. When Covid forced us all inside for 18 months, Dark Deeds: Second Stab became my new hobby/obsession. Taking our original designer’s notes, enthusiastic player feedback, and the uncontrollable urge to noodle endlessly on my art, I made a new and (even if I do say so myself) greatly improved version of the game that was published with minimum fanfare on the digital platform, Tabletopia.

“It was here that Modiphius’s Chris Birch and I played an online transatlantic game of Dark Deeds, after which he said he’d like to publish a new physical edition.

“At that point, the real work began!

“Andy Chambers and I partnered up with Rookery Publications and the game received an industrial level of polish from that veteran team. Revised and rebalanced rules, extra cards, new art (of course, I really can’t help myself), and after yet another frenzied few months, the new edition of Dark Deeds is poised to leap from the shadows!”

For more information on the forthcoming release, contact Modiphius Entertainment Ltd. or sign up at https://www.modiphius.net/pages/dark-deeds to be the first to hear of news of how you can join the evil Patron’s ranks! If you can’t wait to see what all the skullduggery is about, head over to Tabletopia to sample the game’s dark delights.

About Modiphius Entertainment

Modiphius Entertainment is a London, England-based entertainment publisher of tabletop games and related hobby merchandise. The company launched its own IP, the Achtung! Cthulhu Roleplaying Game, in 2013, and has since released a huge range of tabletop games, including the Star Trek Adventures TTRPG with Paramount, the official Dune RPG with Legendary, The Elder Scrolls Skyrim The Co-Operative Board Game, the official Fallout: The Roleplaying Game, and Fallout: Wasteland Warfare miniatures game with Bethesda. The company has since launched new IP’s Cohors Cthulhu and Dreams & Machines.

About Rookery Publications

Rookery Publications Ltd is a Scotland-based independent publisher of tabletop games and their related products. Founded in 2020 by five award-winning gaming industry veterans, the Rookery launched its first line of system-agnostic tabletop roleplaying supplements, The Coiled Crown, in 2021. It also produces a live-streamed show called Inside the Rookery, featuring weekly guests from across the gaming industry. The company is currently preparing to launch its first card game, Dark Deeds, in conjunction with Modiphius Entertainment.

ORIGINAL ROOKERY DRAFT PRESS RELEASE

TIME FOR A SECOND STAB!

Dark Deeds, the cult favourite card game from Andy Chambers & Mark Gibbons, gets a deadly new edition!

Rookery Publications is proud to announce a licensing deal with Modiphius Entertainment to publish the new edition of Dark Deeds, a darkly humorous card game for 2 to 5 players created by gaming legends Andy Chambers and Mark Gibbons.

Set in a sinister fantasy city, Dark Deeds casts players as malicious minions in service to a powerful, mysterious, and clearly villainous Patron. In the service of this dark power, minions must perform acts of thievery, violence, and betrayal, all while avoiding suspicious authorities, interfering do-gooders, and the machinations of their rivals. Rich rewards await the most successful minion, alongside horrific punishments for those who fail.

Are you the kind of malevolent minion the Patron needs? Team players need not apply.

To bring this new edition of Dark Deeds to life, Modiphius has partnered with Rookery Publications. This team of industry veterans includes Art Director Mark Gibbons, who is best known for his decades of creative contribution to the likes of Games Workshop, Blizzard Entertainment and Riot Games – and, of course, as one of the creators of Dark Deeds.

“Andy Chambers, Ryan Miller and myself created the original Dark Deeds over a frenzied six months back in 2015. Indie publisher Games & Gears was good enough to indulge our collective passions and put the devious little game on the shelves for a limited run the following year. We sold every copy, and thanks to the encouraging buzz from a hardcore fanbase, even made a Darker Deeds expansion.

“Despite that cult success, I always felt the game had the potential to be a much bigger hit. When Covid forced us all inside for 18 months, Dark Deeds: Second Stab became my new hobby/obsession. Taking our original designer’s notes, enthusiastic player feedback, and the uncontrollable urge to noodle endlessly on my art, I made a new and (even if I do say so myself) greatly improved version of the game that was published with minimum fanfare on the digital platform, Tabletopia.

“It was here that Modiphius’s Chris Birch and I played an online transatlantic game of Dark Deeds, after which he said he’d like to publish a new physical edition.

“At that point, the real work began!

For more information on the forthcoming release, contact Rookery Publications or sign up at to be the first to hear of news of how you can join the evil Patron’s ranks! If you can’t wait to see what all the skullduggery is about, head over to Tabletopia [LINK https://tabletopia.com/games/dark-deeds] to sample the game’s dark delights.

About Rookery Publications

About Modiphius Entertainment

Modiphius Entertainment is a London, England-based entertainment publisher of tabletop games and related hobby merchandise. The company launched its first game, the Achtung! Cthulhu Roleplaying Game, in 2013, and has since released Conan, Adventures in Age Undreamed of, the official roleplaying game of Robert E Howard’s barbaric universe, Matt Leacock’s Thunderbirds, a cooperative board game based on the classic 60’s show, the official Star Trek Adventures Roleplaying game, and Fallout: Wasteland Warfare miniatures game.

The Tools of War

Bert Ballast — Wed, 20 Mar 2024 15:00:01 +0000

By Al Spader, Star Trek Adventures Contributing Writer
Art by Sibylle Hell

Perhaps the greatest thing about the 2d20 System is its flexibility. While the rules of Star Trek Adventures can be as detailed or as light as a group wants them to be, some players enjoy more immersive mechanics and options. The Federation-Klingon War Tactical Campaign gave us an opportunity to include more detailed rules around both hand-to-hand and space combat in order to provide a more cinematic experience for the players.

With a dozen pages of rules options to choose from, the book offers the option of introducing a new action type known as a reaction. Each character has 1 Reaction per round and may use it at any time. With this variant, making attack actions opposed uses a character’s Reaction. Several other options are provided for using a character’s Reaction, such as diving for cover.

From there, several types of initiative variants are presented, allowing characters to have set initiatives or to roll for their initiative. This section also provides a variant of ship-to-ship initiative where lower-Scale ships activate first and ties are broken based on the ship’s Command rating.

We have also adapted a simplified multiple ship combat system from the Homeworld: Revelations RPG. This system gives each player an opportunity to control their own ship as part of a larger conflict. Borrowing the crew quality concept from the simplified gamemaster ship combat in the Star Trek Adventures core rulebook, this allows everyone controlling a ship to have a simple set of statistics to use for their rolls.

The tactical campaign also provides a unique variant to help the ship’s engineer stay engaged on every turn of space combat. In the assigning ship power variant, the engineer assigns power points to each system and tasks assisted by those systems remove power from their assigned points instead of a general power pool. This variant allows for a more interactive power distribution story amidst a space battle.

Additionally, we have included a type of modified extended task to use during a chase or pursuit scene in an episode. Allowing the narrative to drive difficulties and dice rolls to influence both Pace and Distance, the chase mechanic adds a degree of story intensity to the conflict that many may find satisfying and unique.

Finally, we have included rules for stealth missions when sneaking behind enemy lines or in an enemy stronghold, adapted from the 2d20 System SRD. These rules introduce the concept of stealth states, which include hidden, detected, and revealed. We even include a list of actions and how likely they are to reveal your presence to the enemy. To offset these rules, we have also included rules for using your senses to detect hidden enemies when sensors are inoperative.

This toolkit of options allows the gamemaster and players to cultivate the type of story they’d like to tell. While these tools are presented in a book about war, that doesn’t mean that they can’t be used for regular missions and campaigns if everyone agrees to them. The key is to discuss what options the group wishes to use during a Session 0 and to have the flexibility to add or remove rules variants as players wish throughout their campaigns.

Order your copy of The Federation-Klingon War Tactical Campaign now in either print or PDF and start creating your own Star Trek wartime stories!

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Thanks for reading this article, and thank you for your interest and support of Star Trek Adventures! Keep frequencies open for news about other upcoming Star Trek Adventures product releases. Live long and prosper!

Eric M. Lang Takes on 'Mass Effect'

Bert Ballast — Wed, 13 Mar 2024 20:06:55 +0000

Modiphius has announced Mass Effect: The Board Game – Priority: Hagalaz, a tabletop version of BioWare’s Mass Effect 3 designed by Eric M. Lang and Calvin Wong Tze Loon, set to release later this year.

Mass Effect: The Board Game – Priority: Hagalaz will be a story-driven cooperative game that follows Shepard and the crew of the Normandy on a mission against the Reapers. Their ultimate goal is to activate an ancient alien superweapon called the Crucible to defeat the Reapers before they overwhelm the galaxy.

The game will feature a branching narrative campaign that responds to the players’ choices and is designed to allow replayability. The players will work together, selecting squad members and gear drawn from the Mass Effect trilogy to use against a card-driven “AI” that controls the opposing forces. Over the course of the campaign, players can unlock new abilities and equipment, and enhance their characters by playing optional loyalty missions.

Mass Effect: The Board Game will also feature pre-assembled 32mm plastic miniatures that depict characters from the Mass Effect universe including both male and female versions of Shepard, Liara, Tail, Wrex, and Garrus. It is intended for 1 to 4 players, ages 14 and up. Each story campaign will include three to five chapters, with each chapter taking about an hour to play.

Game components, MSRP, and release date have not been announced. The launch is planned for later this year through Asmodee.

Modiphius also plans to launch a new edition of Star Trek Adventures this year (see “Modiphius Announces ‘Star Trek Adventures RPG 2E’”). The company also recently announced plans to produce a line of licensed games based on Discworld (see “Modiphius Gets Tabletop License for ‘Terry Pratchett’s Discworld’”).

‘Achtung! Cthulhu’ 2d20 Starter Set Brings Pulpy, WWII Cthulhu Adventures to Your Tabletop

Bert Ballast — Wed, 13 Mar 2024 18:57:56 +0000

Achtung! Cthulhu has a new starter set available for pre-order from Modiphius as of today. Fight Eldritch evil against the backdrop of WWII.

Achtung! Cthulhu is Modiphius’ Cthulhu Mythos RPG set during the time of World War II. After all, the pulpy action of investigating Eldritch Horror seems to lend itself well to the pulpy action of punching Nazis. It worked for Indiana Jones across the original trilogy, and it works here, too.

In Achtung! Cthulhu, you play as a secret organization aligned with the Allies and combat the fanatical cultists, mad scientists, and Deep Ones of the Axis. Basically, you prepare your Elder Sign and your air support.

And yesterday, Modiphius announced a new starter set for Achtung! Cthulhu, which is available for pre-order now. Get ready to join the Secret War.

Achtung! Cthulhu – New Starter Set Unveiled!

The Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20 Starter Set introduces players to the Secret War, a hidden global conflict between the forces of good and evil, where you and your band of misfit heroes are tasked with giving reality-warping nightmares from beyond the stars a good ol’ fashioned drubbing!

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The Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20 Starter Set has everything you need to begin your globe-spanning adventures as soon as you open the box, so the only thing you’ll need to pack is punches!

The starter includes….

Starter rules to get you playing quickly!
Among the Wolves, a thrilling 60-page starter mission that takes you from Dunkirk to the heart of an alien hive city!
Six pre-generated characters to play straight out of the box!
Six HUGE maps and over 100 tokens to run battles and encounters!
Quick reference sheets to help players master the rules!
Limited Edition ‘Elder Sign’ Dice Set!

The Achtung! Cthulhu RPG uses the same 2d20 system that powers games like Star Trek Adventures, Fallout the RPG, and Dune: Adventures in the Imperium. So, if you’ve played one of those games, you have an idea of how things work. Though each setting is customized within the system. The Fallout version of the rules has an extra focus on crafting your own equipment in the Wasteland, while the Star Trek set has more rules for doing stuff with your starship.

Here you’ll find rules for running secret operations and waging an expanded campaign against the occult Nazis of the Black Sun. There’s a lot more magic at play here, from Celtic Druids and Norse Runeweavers to people with just plain old psychic powers. All of which can help you take down the ultimate evil.

Pre-Order the Achtung! Cthulhu Starter Set today!

And remember, punching Nazis is always a good idea, but it’s extra special good when they’re evil sorcerers summoning shoggoths.

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Bell of Lost Souls Staff Writer and DM, J.R. covers RPGs of all stripes and on occasion eats sandwiches. You can ask him about either at [email protected]

“Remain Klingon!”

Bert Ballast — Wed, 13 Mar 2024 15:00:02 +0000

By Al Spader, Star Trek Adventures Contributing Writer
Art by Carlos Cabrera

For nearly a century after the Klingon Augment virus was introduced to the Klingon Empire, the Empire toiled over the virus’s impact on the culture’s honor. Driving feuds between Houses, the use of the Augment virus had the potential to start a full-blown civil war among the Empire. Fortunately for the Klingon Houses, a distraction arose that forced them to work together to defend their borders: the Romulan War.

During the Romulan War, the Klingons became somewhat xenophobic and viciously protective of their territory. Aside from a few skirmishes on their borders, the Klingons used the opportunity caused by the Romulan War to look inward, allowing the major Houses to grow by conquering more worlds within their region of space. The Klingon Great Houses were so focused on their competition to gain the most power that they largely ignored any species outside of their borders. This all changed when a Klingon named T’Kuvma tried to unite the Houses under a common cause.

T’Kuvma was considered by many to be a zealot who followed the teachings of Kahless the Unforgettable. T’Kuvma believed that during their time of posturing and one-upmanship, the Great Houses had forgotten the path Kahless forged for the Empire. Because of this, T’Kuvma thought the Klingon Empire was acting with dishonor by squabbling amongst itself instead of stopping the rapid expansion of the United Federation of Planets.

With a common enemy, T’Kuvma believed that he could bring the Great Houses together in the name of Kahless and restore honor to the Empire. T’Kuvma devised a plan to instigate a conflict with the Federation which began with disabling an interstellar relay at the edge of Federation space. With his great Sarcophagus cloaked, T’Kuvma and his crew of religious believers of Kahless waited for the first vessel the Federation sent to investigate.

The U.S.S. Shenzhou was the ship closest to the relay and was the first to respond to the situation. Commander Michael Burnham took a spacewalk to investigate what was happening and was greeted by one of T’Kuvma’s followers. This confrontation ended with the Klingon warrior dead and gave T’Kuvma an excuse to light the Beacon of Kahless, an ancient artifact that sent a unique subspace signal to each of the Klingon Great Houses. Ships and warriors from all 24 Great Houses soon arrived to support the cause. The resulting conflict became known as the Battle at the Binary Stars, the opening salvo of the Federation-Klingon War.

While The Federation-Klingon War Tactical Campaign is told primarily from the perspective of Starfleet, how to adapt the story and the tactical overlay to a Klingon perspective is presented in the book as well. This way, players can use The Klingon Empire core rulebook to create a crew and House to tell the story of the Klingon side of the war and bring glory to the Empire by vanquishing those who claim, “We come in peace.”

Order your copy of The Federation-Klingon War Tactical Campaign now in either print or PDF and start creating your own Star Trek wartime stories!

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Modiphius GAMA Reveals – Star Trek, RPGs, & More

Bert Ballast — Thu, 07 Mar 2024 15:50:55 +0000

Modiphius has a products planned for some very exciting licenses and IPs. Get ready for more Star Trek, Fallout, and more games coming soon!

We’ve got boots on the ground at GAMA and they sat in on the Modiphius Entertainment presentation. There’s loads of great products coming soon so take a look at what’s heading you way!

Discworld Adventures

There’s an upcoming Discworld Adventures RPG that was teased. The Kickstarter is set to come out later this year so keep an eye out for this one.

Dune Roleplaying Game

Dune — Adventures in the Imperium is already out but more products are coming for that line. Additionally, there’s currently a sale going on for many of the current products if you want to snag them and save.

Other RPGs and Wargames

Battlespace, Rangers of Shadow Deep, and Country Road Z are either coming soon/have stock refreshes coming.

There more refreshes/restocks/releases for The Elder Scrolls:Call to Arms wargame.

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The big news was the new Cohors Cthulhu game coming. There’s a Kickstarter in April and they teased a few of the products. And yes, this is an RPG set in the Achtung! Cthulhu 2D20 tabletop game universe…only in Ancient Roman Empire times. It sounds wild.

Star Trek Adventures RPGs

Star Trek: Adventures has been a big hit. It’s been flying off the shelves(?) at GAMA. Retailers are really liking this one — which means their customers are!

Fallout RPG’s And Wargames

Fallout had a big showing with all the various Roleplaying Game content coming as well as a host of new miniatures for the Fallout: Wasteland Warfare game. It’s almost like it’s a good idea to have miniatures that you can use in both a tabletop wargame AND an RPG game system…

That’s all from the presentation by Modiphius Entertainment. There’s a lot coming down the pipe — what are you looking forward to getting your hands on?

Star Trek or Fallout? Why not both?!

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Writer, Editor, Texas Native, and Austinite for 15+ years, Adam covers all things Tabletop Gaming. Which includes Warhammer 40,000, Age of Sigmar, D&D, Board Games and everything else that involves dice, boards, cards and a table.
A hobbyist, player, and collector of miniatures and games, Adam’s current obsession are his Death Armies for Age of Sigmar, his Blood Angels and Tyranids for 40k, and his ever growing Arkham Horror: The Card Game Collection.

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“Alternative Truths”

Bert Ballast — Thu, 07 Mar 2024 15:00:02 +0000

By Michael Duxbury, STA Contributing Writer
Art by Paolo Puggioni

Sometimes delays to a story you intended to be topical only serve to make its subject more relevant.

I originally pitched the new Star Trek Adventures standalone mission “Alternative Truths” in July 2019, shortly after the premiere of the HBO miniseries Chernobyl. It’s an incredible show, searing in its intensity, with a powerful message about the terrible cost of ignoring scientific fact for the sake of political expediency. Many critics drew comparisons between the series’ narrative and our global climate catastrophe. The announcement that pro-Kremlin networks had begun work on their own Chernobyl series – which falsely credited the disaster to interference by CIA saboteurs – seemed like a bitterly ironic coda.

The film-makers of The Undiscovered Country conceived the destruction of the Klingon moon Praxis as Star Trek’s equivalent of the Chernobyl disaster. It is the inciting incident which ended the Empire’s cold war with the Federation, setting the stage for an uneven peace, which became the status quo of The Next Generation era. While The Undiscovered Country focussed on the road to that peace settlement, it felt like there were many stories left to tell in its aftermath. From that seed emerged a whole new adventure concept, in which Starfleet officers must reckon with the environmental fallout of Praxis, learn a dangerous truth, and reconcile their dual commitments to telling the truth and keeping the peace.

It’s now 2024. The pop-cultural zeitgeist has moved on. But the lessons of Chernobyl, and of “Alternative Truths,” feel more devastatingly relevant than ever. The last four years feel like a slow-motion slideshow of the lessons we failed to learn. Populist demagogues spouting pseudoscientific nonsense. Media mouthpieces sharing provable falsehoods. Autocratic tyrants despatching foot soldiers to their death. It’s enough to make any of us long for a do-gooding roleplaying party to beam down from the stars and make things right. But all we have is each other.

Roleplaying games should be fun, and there’s plenty of fun to be had in “Alternative Truths.” It’s a challenging adventure, which between the political and ethical sparring, still finds time for infiltration missions and spaceship engagements and other futuristic sci-fi excitement. But in the grand tradition of the very best Star Trek stories, I hope it will also hold up a mirror to our present. Sometimes the best way to understand something is not to read or watch something, but experience it. Roleplaying games don’t quite have the total immersion of a holodeck simulation, but they’re probably the closest we have for now.

So please enjoy “Alternative Truths,” and treat yourself to the wish-fulfilment of what can be achieved in utopia. I’d love to hear from your group about what they got up to, and the resolution they achieved.

Live long and prosper!

Grab a copy of this new mission now!

Core Rulebook:

Starter Set PDF:

Thanks for reading this article, and thank you for your interest and support of Star Trek Adventures! Keep frequencies open for news about additional STA products in the coming months. Live long and prosper!

“Synthetic Diplomacy”

Bert Ballast — Thu, 07 Mar 2024 15:00:02 +0000

By Christopher L. Bennett, STA Contributing Writer
Art by Nick Greenwood

When I was invited to pitch Star Trek Adventures standalone missions in the Star Trek: Picard setting, the two major story threads of season 1 both suggested ideas to me. My previous adventure, “Children of the Wolf,” addressed the Romulan evacuation effort prior to the supernova of Romulus’s sun. This new standalone, “Synthetic Diplomacy,” came from the other main thread, the outlawing of synthetic life-forms or “synths” (i.e., androids) in the wake of the 2385 attack on Utopia Planitia. What if a planet where androids were commonplace was negotiating for Federation membership when the ban came into effect? What if the players had to try to salvage the membership effort in spite of the new law? With tensions high in the aftermath of the attack, the player characters might be divided on the appropriateness of the ban, but would still have to represent Federation law and policy in their diplomatic dealings.

While the potential for character conflict and drama is clear, there was a muddier issue I had to tiptoe around. It was necessary to clarify that the androids of the planet Noaru were not sentient, since Picard season 1 established that the secret of synthetic sentience was still a mystery to the Federation 14 years after the timeframe of this mission. To make the premise work, though, I had to establish that the Noaru don’t much care about sentience when it comes to the devotion they feel for their androids, any more than we do with our pets.

The muddiness comes in when you look at how other Star Trek series depict synthetic intelligence. Several holograms have been shown to develop sentience: Professor Moriarty and Countess Regina in The Next Generation, the EMH in Voyager, and arguably Hologram Janeway in Prodigy. Lower Decks established the exocomps from TNG: “The Quality of Life” as Federation members, plus a prison full of sentient megalomaniacal computers at the Daystrom Institute. If sentience is so easy for holograms or non-humanoid artilects to achieve, why is it so hard for androids? Just plug one of those sentient computers into the head of a robot body, and bam.

It was while writing “Synthetic Diplomacy” that I finally figured out a way to reconcile it. While these various sentient A.I.s exist, all of them either gained sentience unintentionally or were created outside the Federation. Thus, their existence does not contradict the idea that Federation science is still unaware of how to create A.I. sentience on purpose.

I do wonder, though, how the synth ban in Picard affected artilects such as Voyager’s EMH or Lower Decks’ Peanut Hamper. Is it just a ban on research into creating new ones? Although the synth ban was not one of the Federation’s finest hours, I find it hard to believe it would have stripped existing Federation citizens of their rights. Canon hasn’t answered the question, which leaves players room to explore it in their games.

Grab a copy of this new mission now!

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Starter Set PDF:

“Conflict of Values”

Bert Ballast — Thu, 07 Mar 2024 15:00:02 +0000

By Michael Dismuke, STA Contributing Writer
Art by Wayne Miller

The Star Trek movie era was marked by a renewed focus on interstellar diplomacy and the pursuit of peace among the United Federation of Planets and the Klingon Empire. Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country explored the more nuanced and complex aspects of diplomacy and negotiation in the face of a violent crisis.

One of the key responsibilities of Starfleet crews during this era was to ensure peaceful relations with fellow members of the United Federation of Planets. This was no easy task, as there were often factions within member worlds who were vehemently opposed to Federation membership for a variety of reasons: social, political, religious, and more. These factions may have engaged in flagrant uprisings or made insidious attempts to shatter the peace of the Federation, and it was up to Starfleet crews to intercede and broker a peace.

The new Star Trek Adventures standalone adventure “Conflict of Values” explores one such polity, the Arbazan. Little has been seen of the Arbazan in the movies or television series, which gives gamemasters the opportunity to expand on their lore. I wanted a scenario that would reflect a scene all too familiar in today’s world, where political and social tensions can lead to conflict and unrest. In Star Trek, however, the stakes are much higher, as the very survival of the Federation and its member worlds is at risk.

The crew of a starship in this scenario is faced with the daunting task of navigating the complex and often contradictory values of different factions within the polity. They must balance the needs and desires of the different groups, while also maintaining the integrity and principles of the Federation. This is no easy task, as the crew must constantly navigate the fine line between diplomacy and force, compromise and steadfastness.

The key theme of the module is the idea of conflict of values. Values can play a huge role in any Star Trek Adventures campaign, and I wanted to design a module that encouraged player characters to utilize them to push the story forward narratively. In a universe as vast and diverse as the Star Trek universe, there are bound to be clashes between different cultures, belief systems, and political ideologies. The crew must be able to navigate these conflicts with sensitivity and understanding, while also being able to assert the values and principles of the Federation. To broker a peace between different factions, the crew must be able to understand the motivations and desires of each group. They must be able to see things from multiple perspectives, and to find common ground between seemingly disparate beliefs and values.

Star Trek stories often focus on diplomacy and negotiation and showcase the complex and often challenging work of Starfleet crews in maintaining peaceful relations with member worlds. I hope “Conflict of Values” serves as a powerful reminder of the importance of empathy, understanding, and communication in resolving conflicts, both within the Star Trek universe and in our own world.

Grab a copy of this new mission now!

Core Rulebook:

Starter Set PDF:

‘Star Trek Adventures’ ‘Captain’s Log Solo Roleplaying’ is Booming at GAMA

Bert Ballast — Wed, 06 Mar 2024 18:20:22 +0000

Star Trek Adventures’ Solo RPG, Captain’s Log, is going strong at GAMA. Now may be the perfect time to boldly go it alone.

Solo Role-Playing has really taken off in the last few years. It is probably best not to think too hard about why because trying to look too hard at 2020 is tantamount to thinking about The Event—a fate to be avoided at all costs. But the idea of solo RPGs isn’t anything especially new. It’s a concept as old as Choose Your Own Adventure books. However, there have been several key advances in design and thinking lately.

And from the floor of the GAMA Trade Show, it seems that Modiphius’ Star Trek Adventures: Captain’s Log Solo Roleplaying Game is selling like hotcakes. Retailers have been especially pleased with the book, which offers players a full, standalone Star Trek experience that keeps on giving.

This is not surprising. Star Trek is a fantastic and fantastically personal setting. A dozen different people can take away two dozen different meanings from it. Being able to explore, imagine, and adventure on your own is an amazing experience.

So, with Captain’s Log selling out at a manufacturer level, this may be the perfect time to boldly go where none have before, on your own.

Star Trek Adventures: Captain’s Log Solo Roleplaying Game

So how does it work? Well, in the book, you get a complete, streamlined version of the 2d20 system, as well as guides for creating your own Star Trek stories. You make a character, you create your ship and your crew, and you start exploring. Imagining. Along the way, the book will be your guide:

Create an original character and then use the tools in this book, combined with your fertile imagination, to fashion your own fascinating Star Trek-style stories. Play in any era of Star Trek – from the 21st century to the 32nd century and everything in between. Explore strange new worlds, new civilizations, and all the wonders of the universe!

What will you discover while exploring the final frontier?

The 326-page, full-color digest-sized hardcover Captain’s Log Solo Roleplaying Game features:

A streamlined 2d20 ruleset that enables countless ways to play.
Lifepaths and roles for any type of character, not just Starfleet captains.
Story-driven solo gameplay that promotes drama in a safe space.
A Star Trek primer including society, technology, and eras of play.
Rules for creating or randomizing your own starship or starbase.
Options to play the game solo, collaboratively with friends without a gamemaster, or collaboratively with a gamemaster
Guidance on implementing the rules and telling your own stories.
Over 100 random tables and storytelling matrixes usable in all kinds of games,
including alien worlds and polities, allies and enemies, mission themes, maintenance downtime, and so much more!

Worth noting, there are four different versions of the book (right now, you can only order three online), each of which changes the cover to be in the style of a different Star Trek Series: The Original Series, Next Generation, Deep Space Nine/Voyager, or Discovery. But the cover is the only difference. Inside the book, it’s all the same.

Even if you don’t play solo, this book is an indispensable creative tool for coming up with new ideas, thanks to its extensive oracles, which include mission briefings, alien worlds, and more.

Check out Captain’s Log Today

And remember, the Stardate format is as follows: the first digit represents the century, the second the “season” and then the rest is up to whatever feels clever.

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Bell of Lost Souls Staff Writer and DM, J.R. covers RPGs of all stripes and on occasion eats sandwiches. You can ask him about either at [email protected]